Gov. Jerry Brown on Friday signed six gun-control bills into law, including a requirement that ammunition purchasers undergo background checks. The governor vetoed five other measures, including an expansion of the use of restraining orders to take guns from people deemed to be dangerous.

Spurred by outrage over recent mass shootings, California lawmakers on Thursday sent Gov. Jerry Brown a sweeping package of gun control bills, including a ban on the sale of semi-automatic rifles with detachable magazines, background checks for those buying ammunition and new restrictions on homemade firearms.

Flowers and American flags honoring the victims of the San Bernardino attack a few days after the assault are placed outside the Inland Regional Center where the fatal shooting took place. (Nick Ut / Associated Press)

Patrick McGreevy May 19, 2016

The state Senate on Thursday approved sweeping new restrictions on using guns in California in response to the December mass shooting by two terrorists that left 14 dead in San Bernardino.

The gun control measures a tearful President Barack Obama announced Tuesday would not have prevented the slaughter of 20 first-graders at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut; 14 county workers at a holiday party in San Bernardino, California; or a dozen moviegoers in Aurora, Colorado.

Pictures of last week’s shooting victims are displayed at a makeshift memorial site Monday in San Bernardino. Legislators are considering more restrictions on the purchase of ammunition and rifle magazines that can hold more than 10 bullets. (Jae C. Hong – The Associated Press)

The Lou Desmond and Company Show is broadcasting from the Toyota of San Bernardino Recording Studios!

On the show today Lou is joined by Beth Baumann, an NAU writer at Politichicks, to discuss the way that the shooting at NAU has been characterized by the media. School shooting, or alcohol induced feud?

As the California Legislature churned toward adjournment this week, it was considering – as usual – new laws to inhibit gun ownership, adding to what are already, for better or worse, the nation’s most restrictive gun controls.

SACRAMENTO >> California could become the first state to allow family members, licensed therapists and health care providers to petition a judge to take firearms from someone who has shown signs that they could harm others or themselves.

Harris

Bob Egelko Updated 5:21 am, Friday, February 28, 2014

Attorney General Kamala Harris moved Thursday to preserve California’s restrictions on concealed-weapons permits, seeking a rehearing of a federal appeals court ruling that would allow law-abiding citizens throughout the state to carry handguns in public.

Assemblyman Tim Donnelly (R-Twin Peaks) dismissed concerns about his failure to register a handgun he purchased. Above, Donnelly at a gun range in Santa Cruz County this month. (Barbara Davidson / Los Angeles Times / February 6, 2014)

By Chris Megerian and Melanie Mason February 27, 2014, 1:54 p.m.

SACRAMENTO — Assemblyman Tim Donnelly, a Republican candidate for governor, was back on the radio Wednesday to talk about firearms, this time fielding questions about his failure to register a handgun he illegally took to an airport in 2012.

Local applicants seeking a permit to carry a concealed weapon now only have to say that they need one for self-defense or personal safety.

The Orange County sheriff loosened requirements Wednesday for obtaining a concealed-weapons permit in light of a recent federal appellate court decision that deemed many urban counties in California to be overly restrictive in saying who can and can’t carry a concealed weapon.

Dan Walters

For years, California has had some of the nation’s toughest gun control laws, but that hasn’t deterred its politicians from writing ever more restrictions on sale and possession of firearms and ammunition.

A divided federal appeals court has struck down California’s concealed weapons rules, saying they violate the Second Amendment right to bear arms. (Photo of Glock 19 handgun from Wikimedia Commons released under public domain)

By Paul Elias, Associated Press

Posted: 02/13/14, 12:25 PM PST | Updated: 8 hrs ago

SAN FRANCISCO — A divided federal appeals court has struck down California’s concealed weapons rules, saying they violate the Second Amendment right to bear arms.

Capitol Alert The latest on California politics and government January 23, 2014

Firearms manufacturer Smith & Wesson will no longer ship new semi-automatic pistols to California, preferring to turn away from the nation’s most populous market rather than comply with a controversial new gun law.

Bills that crossed Gov. Jerry Brown’s desk in 2013 encompassed policy topics from bullets to bike safety. In some cases Brown signed legislation that enshrined key Democratic goals, reflecting the strength of robust Democratic majorities in both houses of the Legislature.

A majority of Republican and Republican-leaning men, 53 percent, would be “very pleased” or “somewhat pleased” if legislation requiring universal background checks on all gun sales was passed by Congress and signed by the president, according to the latest United Technologies/National Journal Congressional Connection Poll.

Rep. Raul Ruiz’s day job came in handy thousands of feet above the air.

Ruiz, a Harvard-educated medical doctor, came to the aid of a stricken passenger during an Oct. 24 flight from Washington to Fort Worth, Texas. Ruiz and a fireman tended to a man in his 60s who fainted in his seat about 30 minutes into the American Airlines flight, The Desert Sun reported.

Sacramento –Gun-rights advocates plan to target Assembly Speaker John Pérez and four other Democratic lawmakers in a recall campaign to serve as retribution for California passing an assortment of gun-control bills this year.

Carla Marinucci

Conservatives say they won a small victory when California Gov. Jerry Brown vetoed what they called “the most draconian” gun bill in the nation — but they insisted that Brown’s role in signing “the strictest set of gun control laws” in America could prompt recall efforts in California.

California lawmakers in the Legislature’s final month in session are set to tackle about 1,100 bills that feature such politically volatile issues as environmental rules, gun control and immigration.

By Melanie Mason and Patrick McGreevy August 11, 2013, 5:49 p.m.

SACRAMENTO — State lawmakers, back from their summer break and starting their final month in session, have a lengthy to-do list that features such politically volatile issues as environmental rules, gun control and immigration.

The program would confiscate firearms because of criminal convictions or serious mental illness. Lawmakers reject bill to let school districts arm teachers.

By Patrick McGreevy, Los Angeles Times April 18, 2013, 8:30 p.m.

SACRAMENTO — The state Assembly approved $24 million Thursday to speed up the confiscation of guns from Californians who are not allowed to own them because of criminal convictions or serious mental illness.

Capitol Alert The latest on California politics and government April 18, 2013

A day after Congress rejected a package of bills aimed at tightening restrictions on gun ownership, California lawmakers moved in the opposite direction, increasing funds for a program that confiscates weapons from people who are prohibited from owning them because of mental illness or violent criminal pasts.

President Obama’s ambitious effort to overhaul the nation’s gun laws in response to December’s school massacre in Connecticut suffered a resounding defeat Wednesday, when every major proposal he championed fell apart on the Senate floor.

If there was ever a moment that symbolized the difference between the power of public opinion and the strength of a concerted minority, it came Wednesday when the Senate defeated a bipartisan measure to expand background checks on gun purchases.

WASHINGTON — To advance a cause that has defined her political career, Sen. Dianne Feinstein brought the father of a child killed at Sandy Hook Elementary School to Capitol Hill, where he talked about the last time he saw his first-grader alive. She brought in police officers to press her case against her law-and-order opponents.

Congressman Howard “Buck” McKeon left. Congressman Gary Miller right.

By Matea Gold February 21, 2013, 9:00 p.m.

WASHINGTON — Four California Republican House members are among 16 GOP legislators being targeted by a pro-Obama advocacy group in a new online ad campaign urging them to back a more robust background check system for gun sales.

Sacramento –California would significantly restrict gun use and ownership, including major new bans on ammunition magazines, under dozens of new proposed regulations that would cement the state’s status of having the strictest gun-control laws in the United States.

On his 51st birthday last August, President Obama hit the links with a group of buddies and then flew by helicopter to Camp David. There, he changed into jeans and picked up a shotgun. And then, before it got too dark, he started a round of clay target shooting.